Sam Jones and Kyriacos Petrou
Source: Ward press photography
The first thing I noticed was the guest stars that had flown from so far to come and attend the MCM Comic Con, interact with their fans and sign autographs for a nominal fee. However at a closer look into the guest stars and I had realised that they didn´t only sign autographs for money. Dennis Ward (photographer) and myself witnessed as Mr Austin St. John aka Jason The Red Ranger had been approached by two cosplayers who requested an autographed miniature red ranger figurine to auction online as part of a charity as to which he gave a recorded statement for to be put on the charity´s site. The stars that had attended comic con this year included Nell Tiger Free from Game of Thrones, Austin St. John, David Yost, David J. Fielding, Karan Ashley and Walter Jones from The Power Rangers, Vic Mignogna from Star Trek, Manu Bennett from The Green Arrow, Summer Glau from Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Sam J. Jones from Flash Gordon.
All the stars were very enthusiastic to be there and they welcomed their fans and the media with practically open arms they had great conversations with fans answered their questions and some even took photos with them.
However meeting and greeting the stars wasn´t the only thing that had excited me when I was there. The event itself was filled with people from everywhere dressed up as their favourite characters which Batman, Spiderman, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Deadpool, Darth Vader, Darth Vader kid, Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi, Storm Trooper, Wesker with Umbrella security team, Kakashi from Naruto, Edward Kenway from Assassins Creed Black Flag, a Medic from Assassins Creed and many more, we even had the pleasure of meeting a family that included Harley Quinn, The Joker and baby Batman. Most of which had entered the inhouse competition hosted by MCM. Comic Con had thought of everything for everyone it wasn´t just for adults or children it was thought and made for all kind of people and fans of all eras and ages. Comic Con even had animated card games and guides on how to play them and the staff that knew how to play were very helpful in spreading their knowledge whilst having a good time themselves.
MCM Comic con didn´t lack in their ability to keep the children busy either they had included a life size version lighting McQueen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a R2D2, a blow up minion, stalls selling memorabilia including Harry Potter items, Katana swords for show of course, various pictures of characters, keyrings, figurines, T-Shirts, masks and everything any fan would want to own.
As I have mentioned previously this was my first time I had attended the MCM Comic Con, I had only heard of it and its features I never thought I would experience it for myself. As a fan when I got the call by Dennis Ward who made this all possible for me I couldn´t believe my ears I couldn´t wait until the day and the time came to go to this event.
Watching videos online of Comic Con events all over the world really do not do justice to the real thing. I knew that it would include some stars but I never thought not even for a second that meeting them would go the way it did.
Coming up to the event I just thought I would just be taking photos of my childhood heroes and that would be it but in reality not only was I taking photos of them I was taking photos with them too. My childhood heroes such as The Power Rangers or Flash Gordon knew that everyone there was attending to get a glimpse of them and to get an autograph but everyone got more than they bargained for. Austin St. John aka Jason Red Ranger had even asked to have this article sent to him alongside the photos that we took with him and the rest of the group. Vic Mignogna took a walk outside with us to take photos outside the RDS and even told us when his upcoming stuff would be airing and how much he liked Ireland. Sam J. Jones aka Flash Gordon who is by all means an energetically exciting person to meet he was very happy to know that not only was I there as part of the press but also as a fan. Manu Bennett loved meeting his fans he made them feel comfortable and he even mentioned something new upcoming and as he said it is going to be dark.
I remember watching these superheroes on TV from when I was a child all the way up to the recent heroes that had attended this MCM Comic Con event. As a child I used to love and play pretend to be some of them. I have never encountered any of my childhood or recent heroes before this weekend looking back at it now it feels unreal they were so good with the press and the fans it seems like they were, are and will always be the true heroes we all grew up knowing and are still growing up knowing from their shows.
If you are a fan of superheroes whether they are new, old, real life ones or even animated ones I would recommend going to the next upcoming event I personally cannot wait for it.
